Physiological Description and Location of the True Heart

The Heart

Almost everyone has heard that joy is produced by the out flowing and manifesting of love contained within the heart, which is quite true. However, the nature and even the location of the heart have been hidden with the full power of love known only to a few individuals. This chapter will offer a physiological description and location of the true heart and its function as well as the convincing proof that it is the heart that makes man great, not his thinking. The next chapter will discuss the full power of love as described by poets rather than by modern science or religion.

Because modern society has identified humans by their ability to think, the power of basic feelings and envisioning has been largely lost. It is, therefore, the nature of the non-thinking processes of the body that must be first discussed and understood before the nature and location of the heart can be fully understood.

Let us start with the classical textbook description of a non-thinking process that is called the withdrawal reflex. It is defined as automatic withdrawal of a finger from a flame or hot object. It is described as a direct connection of the nerves of the finger going directly to gray cells in the spine, which direct the muscles to withdraw the finger. There certainly is no indication of any thinking in this reflex response.

However, let us review the process with a bit of analysis of all of the separate steps that are required for this simple withdrawal response.

Before the finger is withdrawn, some data needs to be acquired such as the intensity of the heat as well as where it is. There must be some judgment as to whether the heat is sufficient to require the withdrawal of the finger and which muscles must be stimulated and how much, depending upon where the source of heat it located. For instance, if the source is behind your back or above your head, the required withdrawal motion will be different than if it were directly in front.

What is now being described is a complex control system that requires intelligence as well as data handling capabilities. It might be considered to be non-thinking, but it is certainly an operation that requires intelligence and decision-making. The reader should also be aware that the thinking brain couldn’t be involved in the process because the entire reaction takes place far faster than nerve impulses could travel to and from the brain.

However, let us consider a more complex example of an automatic non-thinking or reflexive response. Imagine that you are carrying a baby in your arms and approach a stove with a pot of boiling water on the front burner. As you near the stove, you slip on some spilled water and start to fall. You have an immediate feeling and vision that you dare not grasp the stove for support since you may be burnt with the boiling water. You also have the instant feeling that you must not hurt the baby by falling on top of her. These feelings result with the immediate automatic control of the muscles of the body to minimize the danger to the self and particularly to the baby during the fall. As you finally land on the floor holding the baby safely above you and your body twisted during the fall so that bones were not broken or that the pan of boiling water was not disturbed, the brain may finally become cognizant of the whole scene and state the conditioned response of, “Wow! Am I lucky!”

There are two very unusual aspects of the above example. There is the awareness or vision of the pan of boiling water and there is the loss or change in the flow of time and space.

Many individuals who face an emergency or trauma report a similar type of awareness of what is happening that many times appears as if time is standing still so that there is lots of time for everything to be considered. In the above example, the pan of boiling water is not thought to be a threat, it is seen as a threat, as in a vision, or as if it is actually happening. The vision is not as the normal cognitive imagination since it is more what might be called holographic or complete without details or time.

The second unusual characteristic concerns the nature of time as just described above as standing still. In this state, the future is perceived, much as the danger of the boiling water is seen, in a vision that is not mental. For instance, during the fall there is a contortion of the body so that a foreseen tragedy does not occur. The muscles are capable of moving to protect both the baby and the one falling. If you were to mentally think of how the body should move in such a situation, you would find it to be quite impossible unless you are a trained gymnast accustomed to fully relating the mind to the motion of the body. Nevertheless, despite all of the arguments to the contrary, you did, in fact, have a real visual experience .

If the above analysis of the fall with the baby is accepted, then it becomes obvious that there is some form of intelligence as well as some metaphysical properties within the body that are capable of: 1) the continual awareness of the world and body, 2) the ability to foresee or anticipate needs and 3) the ability to change the body in its relationship to the world to best meet the needs.

Modern science is in the midst of the mind /brain debate that includes whether intelligence can exist outside of the brain. Science has been forced to admit to the existence of artificial intelligence in computers, but it is not yet ready to generally admit to the existence of intelligence in unconnected or independent structures not solely dedicated to ‘thinking’. Certainly most scientists would agree that to deliberately control the complex response of the falling person and baby, as described, could only be done by an intelligent control such as an extremely fast computer. They would argue that it would also take a very large and extremely fast computer to process all of the possibilities and calculate the least harmful actions to be taken. Of course, no one would even consider that any computer could predict what the future would hold. They would also agree that the human brain is not fast enough to handle such a job, even if it could (ha-ha) predict the future. Because of this line of reasoning science is therefore forced into the position of questioning the existence of any intelligence involved in the fall and instead proposes that the results were strictly due to luck or coincidence.

It must be accepted that the instant vision or knowledge of the danger of the pan of boiling water is beyond the present wisdom of science to explain. But it should also be recognized that since it is metaphysical, science would never be able to explain it. One undeniable support for the physical existence of non-mental visions is that almost everyone has, in fact, had insightful visions. As an example you are engaged in conversation with a group of people and you find yourself being led into some imaginative and developing conversation when suddenly you have a vision similar to the awareness of the danger of boiling water. This instant vision or insight presents you with the unmistakable awareness that you are stepping into trouble if you continue with the interaction with the group. In that quick moment you foresee where the conversation is leading you and how it will affect your future. In that flash of conscience (as it is often called) you know without a doubt the consequences of the conversation and what you must do to correct the situation. This type of vision is so fast and vague that it is often described as a ‘feeling’ or ‘hunch’ rather than as an insight or vision. It is also the same type of vision that is reported by survivors of some calamity, as they ‘know’ what they must do to survive. It is also the same vision found in that moment of creativity, when you see and ‘know’ that your idea will work.

It is no doubt the same type of hunch, feeling or vision that fish and geese use to move in complete unison as they turn together. Even ants must use something like this vision as they work in unison to create their cities and fight their battles. If you were an ant you would probably explain it as all of the ants following the coupled urges in their hearts. (For those who wish to delve deeper into the subject of intelligence outside of the brain and how independent small sources of intelligence can couple together, I recommend the writings of Vertosick[1]who also discusses the various independent sources of intelligence within our bodies.)

Rather than debating whether or not there is an intelligent and powerful control center other than the brain within the body, let us move forward and see if we can find such a center that is capable of seeing oncoming problems and changing muscles or actions to minimize future damage.

As already implied, the nerve impulses of the body travel quite slowly and even with the rapid reflexive reactions (meaning no brain involvement) they are many times not fast enough (such as when dodging a bullet). Therefore, if we look at the problem from a basic engineering point of view, the control center for such decisions and control of muscles should be exactly in the center of everything that is to be controlled to minimize the distances nerve impulses must travel. Let us, therefore, find where the actual center or ‘heart’ of the body is by measuring from the extended tips of the fingers to the ends of the toes. The center is not in the navel (as it would be if you measured only to the heel instead of the toes) but rather lies within a very odd looking triangular bone at the base of the spine. This bone even looks as if it could fit the requirements for being a control center or the heart of control because of the eight large holes that allow the entrance and exit of many nerves. The name of this bone even suggests that our ancestors saw powers connected with it since it is called the sacrum bone. As we stated before, Sacrum means sacred and is derived from the early Greek name for this bone, hieron osteon, or sacred bone.[2]

The appearance and contents of the weird-looking sacrum, a bit larger than your fist, would seem to point to some special function. Its interior, called the conus medullaris contains a large amount of gray cells as found in the brain as well as an unusual collection of nerve roots looking like horsehair and consequently called cauda equina (horsetail). The horsetail is known to connect directly to the body’s peripheral nervous system, which no doubt includes the proprioceptors in the joints for even faster body responses. (The proprioceptors allow the position of the body to be known without looking.)

If this bone is considered to be the actual center or heart of the body, the ancient symbol of the heart comes rapidly to mind since the outer curves of the heart symbol are suggestive of the curvature of the pelvic bones that contain the sacral heart. There are also the ancient Sanskrit writings that describe the location of this controlling heart as existing in-between the thighs and so if an exterior picture of it were to be drawn, it would be in the center of the two rounded mounds of the buttocks . (Have someone bend over and draw the view centering on the end of the spine.)

There is even more support for the existence of the lower location of the heart as mentioned above. When the literature from other culture and times are consulted, a definite assignment of special powers is found to be relegated to the lower abdominal region.

Plato, for instance described the location of the center of control, which he called the heart, as being within the liver. Chinese Taoist writings described it as being within a lower fiery center called the cauldron that when fired furnishes the vitalizing forces of an individual. The Buddhists describe the source of chi or power as residing within the lower heart or hridaya. The Indian Rig Veda places the center just above the sex . The Bible likewise speaks of many powers within this lower heart or belly such as wisdom , imagination, thoughts, strength and knowing. Yoga claims that an individual’s power is in a center or chakra located in the lower abdomen controlled by an even lower center within the sexual region_[3]. Alchemy places the power for transformation in the lowest region of the body requiring special sexual energy, perhaps the sacred bone, which might have been the mystical stone of the philosophers._[4]

The existence of a lower center from which rises control and energy for the body appears to be diametrically opposite to modern Western institutional teaching which places the source of control within the brain. But before you reject the concept of a lower controlling center consider the possibility that both statements may be true.

The control by the brain consists of two main steps. The first is the definition of a goal or what one desires to obtain, which is the result of what we are quite well aware of as thinking. The second step requires the opening of the sacral heart and its reception of the goal. This step is quite obvious and is often described in just such terms, such as opening the heart to the goal or setting the heart upon the goal. The physical effects of this stage are many times more obvious if you make a dedication in front of other people. In such a position you generally find that stating the goal or dedication is accompanied with a tightening of the lower abdominal muscles and a forceful lowered pitched voice. There is also a change in the mental definition of the goal from, what might have consisted of very precise and specific examples (such as how you will do specific tasks or think specific thoughts) to, a feeling of an unknown reaching for the goal. At this time, there can be the mental addition to the dedication such as, “Well I certainly don’t know all the details or when I can do it, but I know that it will happen”. That final statement that you now know that it will happen is like a return receipt that the message was received and properly recorded. If you are smart, you now let the sacral heart do the leading and directing and the controls and energy for the task will then come up from the depths of the bowels or sacral heart.

It is the execution of the Will that also sets up the individual response centers in the spine as for instance, in a gymnast who is dedicated to mastering a fall. One of the requirements that anyone attempting to program the body knows is that the brain must be quieted and the goal placed in the heart allowed to control. It is then in the repetition of a fall that this lower heart is able to gradually change all of the spinal reflex controls for timing and specific muscle usage. The same process is found to take place but perhaps to a lesser degree within those individuals who imagine something happening. For instance, many drivers forced to drive at high speeds can have visions of having a tire blow out and then find themselves responding to the emergency at some deep inner level somewhere in their mind. This worrying certainly sets the sacral heart and spinal reflex system, since many of these people find that if a tire does blow out, they automatically respond as they ‘imagined.’

The sacral heart and the reflexive control system can also be blamed for habits that your brain cannot control. Many of these habits originated as countering data already stored in the sacral heart. Our highly controlled society, for instance, leads people to the addition of many habits to counter our heart desiring to run, hide or fight when being faced with someone whom we know is angry with us. One is of course, the clenching of a fist, but you can no doubt name a few more. It is as if we add data with priorities to the sacral heart center that tell the heart when and where to execute the latest addition. In all case, the release of the stored data in the heart is executed only when a need for it surfaces.

To return to the problem of two control centers in the body, in general, the rising powers from the lower abdomen can be attributed to the programmed sacral heart evidenced primarily as feelings . The controls coming down from the brain can be attributed to the programmed brain evidenced primarily as thoughts. If these are the only powers of the body then an individual functions more like an intelligent animal or perhaps a super robot.

But fortunately there are additional higher powers of the sacral heart that can be found and utilized to find joy and an individual evolution into much more. Before discussing the higher powers of the sacral heart, consider first the results of research into the higher powers of individuals by two major universities.

Princeton University has supported some very important work that contributes to a formal recognition of special powers within individuals. The work is described in a wonderful book by Robert Jahn and Brenda Dunne_[5], who give excellent evidence that certain individuals have the power to vary the world about them and to become receptive to the impressions of others. Their work at Princeton took two different approaches than commonly used in studying individual metaphysical powers. The first was that they were looking for very slight effects and not the gross effects such as lifting cars or elephants with the mind. The second was that they were expecting that only a few people could change their outer world.

Princeton sat individuals down in front of devices like pendulum clocks that could be measured very accurately with special electronic measuring instruments and found how certain individuals could intentionally increase or decrease the speed of these devices. The speed was not enough to excite most people since the variation in a pendulum clock by one of the best observers would only extrapolate up to something like a total of one minute over twenty fours hours._[6] Despite the very small change in time it does indeed indicate that such powers do, in fact exist. Further it seems reasonable to expect that these powers would be far greater under a real need. They also performed experiments which they called remote viewing in which a selected observer could transmit the general shape of what was being viewed to another selected individual some distance away, again only over a period of time. This ability might be described as sorting a weak image out of the normal mental noise that goes on constantly in the brain that resonates with the other person’s image.

The Rhine Institute at Duke University had earlier produced a great deal of data demonstrating how some individuals could reach out into the outer world and ‘guess’ which of five symbols were on the back of a (Zener) card held by someone else. In our opinion, the work could be summarized that special individuals could ‘guess’ slightly better than predicted by chance if they believed that they could do it, while other special individuals would ‘guess’ lower than chance if they didn’t believe in such things as ESP. That data was not acceptable to most academicians because of one chief objection. This objection centered upon the lack of universality of the measured ‘guessing’ traits. It was considered illegal for Duke to use only the data from exceptional individuals and so they were accused of ‘sorting’ their data, which of course, was quite true. The same type of complaints was given about the remote viewing experiments at Princeton. The response of academia has often been interpreted that if academicians do not experience or know something, then it does not exist. (The answer to this problem has always been to wait until the present academicians die off.)

Both Princeton and Duke indicate that only exceptional individuals exhibit the higher responses yet they also indicate that there is something that is done by these exceptional people to obtain their results. The exceptional individuals are all convinced that they have a power that extends beyond their own body that is normally not used. They also report that although many participants in their studies do not know precisely what they do, the general descriptions sound like the ‘setting of the heart’ as we have described it above.

Our Center has conducted experiments on the increasing the physical response time of individuals that yielded supportable results. These results indicate that an adult with a proper preparation, that includes setting the sacral heart_[7], could respond almost twice as fast as a normal adult. This accelerated response time is commonly found in some martial artists as well as athletes in the ‘zone ’.

The sacral heart also has the strange capability of allowing access to a source of creativity or the ability to foresee the future. This may be initially explained by the ability of the heart to effectively slow down the passage of time such as evidenced in the fall of the person carrying the baby described above. Instead of slowing time the added powers of the sacral heart might be explained because of its ability to ‘think’ holistically in what is described as feelings or visions. Many creative people speak of first having the feeling of what is desired and then watching the feelings shift to yield how it is obtained. The final explanatory feeling, however, then requires the brain to interpret these feelings into understandable terms which many times are quite difficult and lengthy. Idiot Savants offer an excellent illustration of this power as they nearly instantly find the answer to two large numbers multiplied together by ‘feeling’ the right answer. Creativity, or the solution of problems, can also be explained with the ability to see into the future such as reported by many individuals facing a life-threatening emergency when they can see the route to safety or what they will do to save themselves. This subject is, however, worthy of a book and quite beyond the present requirements other than to list the results as real products of the sacral heart. The next chapter will provide excellent examples of the results of these properties of the sacral heart.

There is one more very important topic about the sacral heart that needs to be discussed and that is the driving energy for its powers. The energy for the special powers of the heart is universally attributed to sexual energy or more accurately, the energy found in the sexual region, and particularly within the perineum. The physiological discussion of this source is, however, left for Chapter Eleven, but the remainder of the chapter will discuss the finding and releasing of this energy.

The popular term for activating the sacral heart is to be ‘turned on’ which can be compared with the old Biblical term of being ‘quickened’. Since we use the Biblical term quickened, we might as well start the discussion of a higher or special energy with dreams. The Bible reports many stories of how a dedicated individual finds answers in his or her dream. In the dream they fully understand their immediate situation as well as what the future requires.

Science has extensively studied dreams and has found a particular type of a dream that is deemed essential for health and perhaps preparation for the future. This dream occurs at least once a night in almost everyone and is called REM dreaming because of the rapid eye movement that takes place during the dream. This dreaming is often described as ‘lucid dreaming’ which many explain as being ‘more real than real’. Lucid dreaming is a state of feeling highly awakened, interactive and at complete oneness in the midst of a new world and self during the dream. This period of accelerated vitality and awareness is indicated by a restless motion of the body with distorted and labored breathing with downward pressure, and even more interesting is the increased blood flow into the sexual region and swelling of the perineum. This form of perineal arousal is of special interest, since the majority of lucid dreams do not contain sexual interactions, but rather an intense personal union with the characters and places found in the dream. Our conclusion is that REM dreams may serve some unknown rejuvenating function but that they may also indicate that the state of the body during the dream could be used to make the awakened world more real and alive as well.

With the aroused and active body found in REM sleep as a model, related states of self-stimulation can be found in the wakened state. Intense crying and hilarity offer two prime examples. Crying, during its stage of releasing deep feelings and concern of the self, exhibits motions of the body similar to those found in REM. Breathing becomes labored with the lungs only partially filled and the exhalation quite forced such that the lower abdomen becomes the center of motion and vitality. The perineal or sexual muscles are alternately relaxed and tensed with the sense of sinking and rising. There is a resulting change in both the mental and physical characteristics of the body that is extremely healthy. Similarly, hilarity, or deep uncontrolled laughter, leads to the same body contortions with the perineal muscles also exercised, energized and no doubt swollen.

The pouting of children also exhibits the same breathing and body movements as REM dreaming and it is interesting to note that many adults maintain something similar to childish pouting that seems to serve much the same purpose. Adults, however, do not admit to pouting but may instead describe themselves as becoming determined, disgruntled, excited or perhaps rebellious. An adult, for example, could describe the holding of the breath and the downward pressure as perhaps, ‘setting the will’, ‘girding the loins’, ‘turning on’, or forcing the self to ‘take a stand.’ However, to modern adults, it should be remembered that they are conditioned to view anything related to churning of the tummy, rocking or strong exhalation as uncultured, rude or barbaric. Also, anything related to massaging or rubbing of the perineum would be considered kinky and raise questions about their sexuality.

There is a very common experience that serves as a simple example of turning on or activating the sacral heart. This is the act of stepping into a cold shower, particularly on a cold day. The first stage is perhaps the hardest and that is the opening of the sacral heart to accept the role of being in the cold shower and ignoring all of the brain thoughts of how bad it will feel. The second stage is the familiar feeling of steeling yourself, normally experienced with an exhalation and holding of the breath while the muscles in the perineum_[8] are tightened. (These muscles are commonly labeled as being sexual, anal or those used in the stoppage of urine; see Chapter Eleven.) The final step is, of course, trusting and yielding to the oncoming moment with a strong exhalation or gasp as you finally step in.

The final subject is the nature of the energy that is released by the perineum. This energy is well recognized by most of the world and given many different names. For example, the Bible defines it as the ‘Living Waters’, the Rig Veda calls it ‘Soma’ and the Tao calls it ‘Chi’ which comes forth from a cauldron that must be fanned into intense burning. Yoga gives an interesting experiential definition in that the special energy is called Kundalini and it is described as being awakened with pounding, exhalation and pressure and then feels like an awakened serpent that darts out of the perineum into the sacrum. From the sacrum, the energy then travels upward through the spine opening doors for the activation of the higher physical functions of the body.

When the higher energy activates a love or the drive for a goal locked in the sacrum, the result is nearly always supernormal or often described as being Divine. Many of the ancients ascribed the various supernormal powers to various gods that dwell within an individual. One excellent example of this is given with the very ancient Rig Veda in which a god can be called upon and then when the god is given soma to drink, the powers of the god are manifested.

Medicine is quite familiar with the sensation of a rising sensation like a flow in the body with the secretion or injection of stimulants that do energize the body. We had an interesting discussion with a group of reformed street drug users who were comparing the similarity of the rising sensation found in the direct stimulation of the sacral heart using Eastern exercises with the rising sensations found during the injection of drugs. They claimed that it was this same ‘rush’ that was the chief attraction of some of the street drugs. The ‘rush’ produced by Eastern practices then seemed to become an attraction for many drug users who were hoping to break their habits (which as far as we know they did).

In summary, the lower sacral heart is an organ that can be considered to operate at three levels. The first is to control the spinal reflex centers in performing the necessary automatic functions that keep the body alive and functioning. The second can be considered to control habits or desired repeated responses to the world while the third can only be described as creative and evolutionary. The sacral heart at this level is capable of stimulating the entire body and mind into a supernormal mode to meet the needs of reaching or manifesting dedicated goals or activating the love in the sacral heart.

As a warning to the reader, it should be pointed out, as most ancient religious writings strongly stress, that hate can also be placed into the sacral heart which can destroy an individual as fast as love can elevate the same individual.

[1] F. Vertosik Jr, The Genius Within, 2002

[2] O. Sugar, How the Sacrum got its Name, 1987; B. Stross, The Sacrum Bone, Doorway to the other World, 2004

[3] Peck, Power for Change, 1999

[4] See Joy and Evolution, Chapter Eleven

[5] R. Jahn, Margins of Reality, 1989

[6] See also p. 95, Peck's Creating Heaven on Earth, 2001

[7] See Joy and Evolution, Chapter Eight

[8] pubococcygeus and bulbospongeosis muscles, see Joy and Evolution, Chapter Twelve